Journal # 1 Beowulf
1. Beowulf is an artifact of the confluence of the Anglo-Saxon and Christian cultures at the time of its scribing.
From your reading, what features in the excerpts reflect what we’ve learned about the influences of the time (Specifically, Anglo-Saxon and Christian influences).
What does it seem were the ideals, concerns, and worldview of these people?
Try to cite specific examples.
2. Next, pick a piece of storytelling from our society (Recent song, novel, film, or TV show)
Take a moment to reflect on what values, concerns, and worldview are reflected in this work, citing specific examples from the piece
Journal # 2 Grendel
- Journal # 2, (15 Minutes)
- In your Journals,
- Respond to the excerpt from Grendel…You can focus on…
- Comparisons to Beowulf
- Use of Language
- Beowulf’s whisperings: What is he saying? Italicized parts on page 170
- How it reflects Existentialism:
- People live on the hope of tomorrow, though tomorrow brings us one day closer to death…People live as if they’ didn’t know the certainty of death.
- The world is strange, inhuman, foreign place
- The world is absurd and meaningless…
- The individual is responsible for giving meaning to life…
- The crisis of rational humans trying to make sense of an irrational world.
Journal #3
Canterbury Tales Prologue
Chaucer spends a lot of time describing his pilgrims, often giving sarcastic and critical descriptions.
1. Who were some of your favorite characters and characterizations? Why?
- What commentary does Chaucer offer on the society of his time through these characterizations?
- Do any of these characters remind you of people/characters or stereotypes today? Explain.
Journal # 4: Pardoner's Tale and Wife of Bath's Tale
The Pardoner delivers a tale which he says “preach[es] against the very vice / [he] make[s his] living out of --- avarice” (Avarice is Greed)
Write a response to the tale
What were the attitudes toward Death portrayed in the story?
What do you think/feel about Death?
What was the moral of the Pardoner’s Story?
Does the Pardoner’s hypocrisy make you feel different about this message?
Can you think of people today who preach a message that they don’t practice?
and/or
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” explores the differences between men and women as well as the nature of marriage.
Write a response to this story. Use the following questions as guidelines:
What questions did this tale bring up for you?
Do you agree with the old woman, is women’s first desire power over men?
What do women and men want?
What are the fundamental (biological, mental, emotional, spiritual) differences between men and women? How do they affect their interactions with each other?
Is equality in a marriage ideal?
Or should one person be dominant?
Will marriage last in our society?
Journal 5: Why Shakespeare?
400 years on, do you think it’s still valuable to read, perform, watch, and study Shakespeare’s works? Why or why not?
Describe your experiences with Shakespeare so far in life? How’s it been?
Any thoughts, fears, hopes about reading Othello…Shakespeare generally?
Not a Journal, But a Journal Essay Option
LYING
Iago is a master manipulator, using his cunning lies to dupe everyone around him.
Let’s read this excerpt from the essay by Sam Harris , “Lying” and have a discussion exploring the morality of lying.
- What is your relationship with the truth?
- Think of a recent lie that you told…why did you do it?
- What might have happened if you told the truth?
Journal # 6: African Americans and Racism
Respond to the assigned reading and the video clip we will watch right now from the documentary series Unnatural Causes:
From Reading
What is “redlining”?
Who is Clyde Ross?
What did you learn from your reading of I-III of “The Case for Reparations”?
From Video
What do you think about the Neonatologists’ theories about the effects of racism on African American mothers?
Feel free to respond to, include, address, connect to, other knowledge/experience…
How do we still see the effects of Racism playing out today?
What could be done to heal our cultural rifts and make amends for this history of abuse?
Journal #7: Reputation
In response to Cassio’s lamentations, Iago calls “Reputation … an idle and most false imposition,oft got without meritand lost without deserving.”
Nonetheless, he is able to manipulate appearances and reputations to gain power over people.
React to the two articles that we looked at. Are these digital age trends good and fair ones as far as Reputations go?
Reflect on the concept of reputations as they relate to current society, the digital age, your own life, the lives of your friends…etc.
How do we establish and maintain a strong and positive reputation?
How important is your reputation to you?